Well, this is something exciting that I’ve been meaning to blog about for ages – I’m going to the Tudor Tailor conference!
It’s not until next April, but I’m really looking forward to it, as it brings a number of my interests together into one place.
The conference is the occasion for the launch of their next book, The Typical Tudor, which examines not the court dress of previous books, but the clothes of the ordinary Tudor person. It also contains knitting patterns, which I’m very excited to see!
The focus of the conference is on the hunt for evidence, which is much more difficult when you’re talking about clothes that weren’t preserved for posterity in the way that court dress often was. The search for reliable sources around intangible history is really interesting to me, as it’s a difficulty that I’m facing in my research into early modern medicine. The Herbals exist, and we can trace who owned and used them… but what about the people who didn’t have access to the books? Those who couldn’t afford or couldn’t read them? I’m hoping that the conference will introduce me to different ways of looking for evidence, and how to distinguish what is most likely to be both reliable and broadly representative.
And of course, on a purely practical level, I can’t wait to get the book and start sewing! Despite having owned The Tudor Tailor for many years, I’ve never actually constructed a Tudor outfit. Everyday clothing is far more my style than court dress, so I’m really interested to see the patterns and decide what I’m going to make.
I’ve had an idea in the back of my mind for a couple of years to put together a period-correct outfit suitable for swordfighting in. We primarily study Manciolino and Marozzo, who both published treatises during the 1530s, so these patterns will be spot on.
Obviously I won’t be allowed to fight in Tudor clothing – not unless I build it in such a way that I can safely incorporate my modern protective sports kit. But I would definitely like to go through some of the exercises and flow drills, just to make the point that it would have been absolutely possible for a Tudor woman to be a fencer – if she’d had the opportunity.